IEEE Electrification - June 2019 - 26

Financial incentives
are generally the
most direct option
for promoting the
uptake of EVs in
Latin America
(and worldwide).

Latin American countries tend to promote a reduction of or exemption
from these taxes for EVs. Costa Rica
and Ecuador offer an exemption from
the value-added tax for EVs, and
Colombia set a partial reduction. Multiple countries-including Brazil,
Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico-
have adopted a full exemption from
the import tax, and Argentina set a
partial reduction to this tax.
Governments can also incentivize
the adoption of EVs through the
deployment of financial incentives
that reduce the yearly costs of owning and/or using an EV.
The typical options are reductions in ownership or circulation annual taxes (e.g., Colombia and Costa Rica), tolls (e.g.,
Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico), parking fees, insurance,
subsidies for electricity (e.g., Ecuador and Mexico), and so
on. Although these incentives help, they do not reduce the
up-front cost of EVs (they reduce costs over a multiple-year
time span); this explains why governments put more effort
into reducing the purchasing cost of EVs.

(Colombia), San José (Costa Rica),
México D. F. (México), and São Paulo
(Brazil), enacted license-plate-based
restrictions on the use of cars during
certain weekdays and peak hours. This
policy, however, led to an incremental
increase in car ownership and use levels because some households bought
a second car (usually an old car with
high emission levels). In this context,
exempting EVs from license-platebased restrictions is probably one of
the best options for Latin American
cities to provide nonfinancial incentives for EV adoption. Colombia and Costa Rica have implemented this type of policy to promote the adoption of
EV technology.
The third nonfinancial incentive is to allow EVs to use
a number of dedicated parking spaces in public parking
lots. This practice, successfully implemented in Colombia,
Costa Rica, and Mexico, is likely to be a good policy for promoting EVs, because it will affect the parking availability
of IC vehicles only marginally while providing a valuable
benefit for EVs.

Nonfinancial Incentives
Financial incentives are the most effective way to promote
EVs; however, nonfinancial incentives are also important
in the transition toward a clean transport. Although these
incentives are country specific, or even city specific, the
following are common:
1) allowing EVs to use bus-only lanes
2) offering a waiver on driving restrictions (e.g., licenseplate-based restrictions) for EVs
3) providing dedicated EV parking spaces.
Allowing EV users to use bus-only lanes can have benefits; however, this practice may lead to poorer public transportation services, which, in turn, may result in more
people leaving the public transportation system and, thus,
be a detriment to urban transportation sustainability. Consequently, although this practice is used in European cities, it might not be a suitable policy in Latin American
cities, especially if public transportation is to be promoted.
To mitigate environmental and/or congestion problems,
governments in Latin American cities, such as Bogotá

Where Does Latin America Stand on
Public Charging Infrastructure?

Public charging infrastructure is important to ensure that
EV users can travel distances longer than what is typical
for commercially available EVs in the region [approximately 124 mi (200 km) with a full battery]. The deployment of
this infrastructure-more specifically, level 2 (semirapid)
and level 3 (fast) charging stations-has already started
across the region. Table 3 illustrates how quickly these
charging stations can reach 80% capacity for two common
battery sizes.
To help EV users locate public chargers, the private and
public sectors use different online platforms (e.g., https://
www.plugshare.com/, https://www.electromaps.com/puntosde-recarga/mapa, and https://movilidad.ute.com.uy/carga
.html). These online platforms inform EV users about the
availability of charging stations and report the connector
type of the charger, which is critical so that users can
check compatibility with their EV. Figure 2 shows the maximum number of level 2 and level 3
chargers (regardless of connector
type) reported by these online platTABLE 3. The estimated time required to charge a battery to
80% capacity.
forms per country (obtained from
20-26 January 2019). There are
Charger Power
approximately 628 level 2 chargers
Battery
(90.5%) and 66 level 3 chargers
Level 2 (Semirapid) 3.7-22 kW
Level 3 (Fast) 22-200 kW
Capacity
(9.5%) in Latin America.
11 kW
22 kW
50 kW
100 kW
150 kW
(kWh)
Although these are estimated
values, they allow us to compare
28
~2 hr
~1 hr
~27 min
~14 min
~9 min
the current situation of public fast
40
~3 hr
~1.5 hr
~38 min
~20 min
~13 min
chargers in Latin America with

26

I E E E E l e c t r i f i cati o n M agaz ine / J UN E 2019
https://www.plugshare.com/ https://www.plugshare.com/ https://www.electromaps.com/mapa https://www.electromaps.com/mapa https://movilidad.ute.com.uy/carga.html https://movilidad.ute.com.uy/carga.html
IEEE Electrification - June 2019

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